Mowing work is simple in characteristic, and is mainly performed in the middle of summer. Therefore, when a worker directly performs mowing work by using a mowing apparatus for a long time, physical fatigue is caused to the work. In addition, since the mowing apparatus includes a plurality of mowing blades, the risk of safety accident is high.
Technology for a mowing apparatus, which solves the problem and automates mowing work, is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/913,596, but mowing apparatuses of the related art are mainly designed for a narrow area, such as a garden of a general house or the like, and a standardized area such as a soccer filed or the like.
In particular, the related art mowing apparatus operates in a method where a signal line is separately set in a boundary area so as to differentiate mowing areas. An electromagnetic signal, a radio signal, or an optical signal is used as the signal line of the boundary area, and when the signal is emitted, a mowing robot recognizes a mowing boundary line by using a signal detector included in the mowing robot, and performs mowing work in a mowing area.
As described above, since a related art method of recognizing a mowing boundary area by using a signal line needs an additional apparatus for recognizing a boundary line, the related art method cannot recognize a work area when an error occurs in a signal line recognizing apparatus or a signal line, and moreover, in terms of cost and practicality, it is not appropriate to apply the related art method to a broad and irregular work area.
To overcome limitations of the mowing boundary area recognizing apparatus based on the signal line, a method was proposed in which metal or a magnet is provided near a boundary, and a mowing robot detects the metal or the magnet to recognize the boundary.
However, in the method, a separate apparatus provided near a boundary area is needed similarly to the method using the signal line, a sensor for sensing the separate apparatus is separately added, and mowing work is much affected by an external environment.
Moreover, technology of the related art for determining grass lengths determines whether to perform mowing work by using height information acquired by a lawn length sensor, and does not include a more accurate mowing control function that is performed depending on lawn lengths.